Technology Network

      Google has announced the 'Hai Baaton Main Dum?' contest to reinforce its commitment to make the Internet more relevant and useful to India. The aim of the contest will be to spur the creation of high-quality Hindi content on the web using the Google Indic Transliteration tool. The contest is open to anyone who is more than 13 years of age and has a passion to write and provides a platform to the participants to get their content published on the Internet.

      Interested participants can visit http://google.co.in/meribaat (Contest Site) to see all the details of the contest. All other interested users can vote for their favorite entry on http://google.co.in/meribaat. These votes would be considered by the judges, during the final round of judging. The winner will be announced on February 28, 2010 and will be judged on the following criteria: originality, quality and users' interest, adds Google.

      The participants can select from one of five categories and write a short essay on the selected topic. They will have to upload their entries on http://google.co.in/meribaat. The website is open for entries up to January 31, 2010.

      The five categories for the submission of entries are:

• Entertainment, culture and literature: Write about your favorite movie, film star, book or festival.
• Travel: What is your favorite travel destination? Why?
• Sports: Write about your favorite sport or sports personality.
• Health: Share your tips for healthy living
• Social, economic and political issues: What is the most pressing issue facing the nation? And what is the solution?

      The winners in each of the 5 categories will receive a laptop; the best entry in each category submitted by a 9th to 12th standard student will receive a gift voucher worth Rs. 5,000 from an online bookstore. The top 50 shortlisted entries will receive Internet subscription for six months and the next 250 entries have a chance to receive surprise Google goodies.